Four's A Crowd
by Ghostwriter
Summary: After releasing Stefan from his "compulsion", Klaus goes to the Salvatore Boarding House and is surprised by what he finds.


FOUR'S A CROWD

AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

Takes place in my "Three's A Party" reality which means that Stefan and Ripper are two distinct personalities and takes place during "Homecoming" covering the scene where Stefan stops Damon from killing Klaus and after Stefan's freed from his compulsion and replaces the "We blew it" scene. When Stefan's in control the narration will say Stefan and when Ripper's in control, the narration will say Ripper. Elena's mental voice is bold, Stefan's mental voice is bold, Ripper's mental voice is bold/underlined, and Damon's mental voice is italics/underlined. Vampire Diaries belongs to L.J. Smith and the CW. I only own the plot.

Damon blurred to where Klaus was and stabbed Klaus and Elena stood up.

"Katherine," Mikael gasped. Katherine smiled, turned, and then unleashed two grenades.

"Ka-boom," she said, throwing them at the hybrids. Damon raised the stake and-**Damone, no!** Surprised at the sudden presence of Stefan's mental voice as well as the original version of name, Damon didn't even see Stefan coming at him until he had been tackled.

"What are you doing?" he asked with controlled anger. Had his brother actually been compelled? _Have you gone mad, Brother?_ he demanded. **The hybrids-they've been compelled to kill you if you stake Klaus!** Damon stared at Stefan. He could feel his brother's fear rolling off of him in waves, so obviously the threat was real. But surely they could still stick to the plan. _You can still take him out!_ he argued. **No! I'm not losing you! Elena and I are not losing you!** he shouted. There was no way he, Elena, and Katherine could take care of all the hybrids. This was the only way. Damon had to fight the urge to let out a sigh. Of course Stefan would make this type of a decision. He wouldn't let anything happen to him. It wasn't his way. _All right, Brother._ _We'll play this as if you've betrayed us. We'll put on a show,_ he assured. Stefan gave an almost imperceptible nod and Klaus grabbed the stake and lunged at Mikael, stabbing him through the heart. Mikael screamed as he disintegrated into flames.

"What the hell did you do?" Damon asked. _You all right? He never hurt you, did he?_ he checked in concern. **No. Ripper's been in total control up until now and Klaus hasn't found out anything**, came the assurance.

"He's earned his freedom," Klaus replied. Stefan's eyes widened. _Don't worry, Stefano. I've got your back_, Damon told him. However, he stayed on the ground to keep up their charade even as Stefan straightened his stance and turned around to look at the Original even as he let the Ripper take control once more, though he still pretended to be Stefan.

"Thank you, my friend. You no longer have to do as I. You're free," the older vampire said and Ripper closed his eyes briefly and gasped as if the compulsion was being lifted. But it wasn't. It had never been there. Klaus had **never** been in control of Stefan. He had seen to that. Ripper turned around and to his surprise, Damon was gone. **Brother?** he asked, sending his voice out. _I'm fine,_ came the faint response. With an internal sigh, Ripper turned to face Klaus. The Original stared at him and then Ripper walked away.

Elena watched as Damon poured a drink into a glass. **He had no choice. You would've been killed**, she reminded.

"You all right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little pissed," Damon replied before taking a drink. _I still say we could've just taken him out_, he insisted.

"You rather I'd let his hybrids kill you?" a voice asked and they turned as Stefan walked over to Damon.

"No, of course not. I just-we could've figured out a way," Damon responded as he poured another drink.

"It wasn't worth the chance," Stefan said as he came up behind Damon and slipped his arms around his brother's waist, pulling him close.

"I agree. Killing Klaus isn't worth losing a mate," Elena stated, coming to stand in front of Damon and then pressing her body close to him. Damon closed his eyes as the two of them kissed his body. He had felt his brother's fear coming off of him in waves when he had stopped him from killing Klaus and truth be told, it had frightened him a bit as well. Damon put the drink down and then turned to Stefan as Elena did the same, both of them placing kisses on the boy, which was reciprocated, even as the three of them let their hands travel everywhere. Man, Damon had missed this! The three of them had been apart for so long, that he had almost forgotten what Stefan had felt like. This continued for several minutes until Elena finally had to come up for air.

"So, how do **you** feel?" Elena asked in concern.

"Perfectly fine," Stefan responded. She bit her lip and touched Stefan's arm.

"I know it was hard on you…not being able to be with us…because of the whole Klaus incident and we had to pretend that you were compelled and-" Elena began to say.

"Lena, I'm okay. Hell, I even had Rebekah fooled," Stefan smirked as he interrupted her and Elena and Damon laughed.

"That you did, Brother. That you did," Damon stated.

"Look, I'm sorry about the whole saving Klaus thing but-" Stefan began to apologize.

"I know. You couldn't risk me. Though I still think you should've just taken him out," Damon interrupted, his displeased tone of voice telling them exactly how he felt about the younger Salvatore's decision.

"And lose a mate? **So** not worth it," Elena declared, slipping an arm around his waist.

"Not worth it at all," Stefan agreed, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

"Well, isn't **this** just cozy?" a voice interrupted and the three of them turned to see Klaus.

"We **really** need to put this place under a human name," Damon sneered, even as he and Stefan made sure that they were both beside Elena protectively, Stefan's stance changing to that of the Ripper's.

"I came to visit my old friend. I didn't expect to find him engaging in pleasures with his brother and the Doppelganger," Klaus replied.

"Get it through your head Klaus. We may have had a romp in the twenties, but were never destined for each other," Ripper told him.

"Ripper," Klaus said in surprise and the other vampire laughed derisively.

"You think you even had a chance? Damon, Elena, and I are mates. We're bonded," Ripper told Klaus, even as he and his brother leaned into Elena.

"And three may be a party-" Elena began, reaching for Stefan's hand.

"But four's a crowd," Damon finished, placing a kiss on Elena's head as he reached to take his brother's wrist possessively.

"So get the hell out of our house before I forget that we used to be friends and kill you," Ripper snarled. Klaus stood there for a moment, searching his old friend's face, trying to see if there were any traces of his old feelings. However, all he saw was pure hatred. _I've lost him. I've truly lost him_, Klaus realized and he turned and walked out of the boarding house even as the trio turned their attention back to one another as Ripper let Stefan take over once more. Elena laughed as Damon and Stefan began placing kisses on her neck. _Oh, this feels so good_, she thought to herself. Things hadn't been the same when it was just her and Damon. She had **definitely** missed Stefan. It had felt like a part of them was missing.

"Missed this. Missed you," she said.

"Missed you too, Lena," he told her. Then, before he knew what was happening, Elena and Damon had turned around and Damon had blurred so that Stefan had been pushed against a wall and was pinned there by Damon and Elena. Stefan just laughed. "What are you going to do now, Brother?" he asked. For an answer, Damon and Elena pressed against him and within seconds, Damon had removed Stefan's shirt as Elena unfastened his jeans before she and Damon followed suit.

"Ours," they chorused and Stefan moaned as he felt his brother nip at his neck.

"Yours," he stated. Then, he knew no more as he got lost in his lovers.

THE END


End file.
